ABSTRACT
In mid-1909, the election of delegates from industry and trade to the State Council provided an occasion for the Association to assert its belief that “obviously, economic questions must stand on the first place in connection with the regeneration of Russia.” During the last months before the war, however, the Association emphasized the danger that Russia's lagging industrial growth posed not only to its position as a great power but to its very independence as a nation. The industrialists, as creatures of their cultural environment, embraced the traditional Russian principle of the organization of economic classes for the defense and “representation” of their own interests vis-avis the government, opposing group interests, and the public at large. Despite the manifold problems confronting industry, the Association retained a hopeful view of the future. Government orders arrived without a plan, “by jumps and starts,” thereby aggravating the natural fluctuations of the business cycle.
